The Polychrome Pantheon 

Madurai is home to the Meenakshi Amman Temple which covers 16 acres and has 12 gopurams. These are towers up to 8 or 9 stories high. May not sound impressive but when you consider that one of these gopurams has 1511 sculptures of gods all different and all brightly painted and doing all sorts of things not to mention flowers and snakes and elephant trunks and multiple arms well it certainly is a sight to see. Photos are not allowed inside but five of the towers are actually gates in the outer wall and so can be seen for miles around. Inside is a labyrinth of sculptures, carvings, gods and altars with people strewing flowers all over and incense burning and the faithful who have made a pilgrimage to here prostrating themselves.....it is riotous, colourful, joyful and mad.

As non-Hindus we were unable to enter the holy of holies but it was enough sensory overload for one day anyway. I was 'blessed' by the temple elephant who laid his heavy trunk on my head and breathed hot air in my ear. Luckily he is only allowed work 4 hours a day at dawn and dusk so there was no need to feel he was being abused, despite our western sensibilities.

Outside in another amazingly ornate 'marketplace' where a fantastically carved roof and ceiling and columns covered a warren of a market with the alleys so narrow you couldn't turn around. The beautiful carvings all draped with dust and articles for sale and wiring, and lightbulbs insanely trying to illuminate this market from the most chaotic bazaar scene you have ever seen in the movies.

Madurai's other place of interest is the Ghandi Museum. Mainly photos and some rather too long explanatory panels it was nonetheless very interesting and a change from museums featuring nothing but statues of gods.

Religion in India is a heady mix of gods who do not seem to bear any responsibility for the way things are, unlike the Christian God who is believed to control everything. They do however periodically change things in the universe though this is not at all clear to me. The hindu pantheon comprises three main "gods", Brahma the Creator, Shiva the Destroyer and Vishnu the Preserver each has a wife or consort. These are in charge of wisdom, wealth and social order among other things. But, along with these six are a myriad other manifestations including Ganesh the elephant and Hanuman the monkey just for starters. Shrines and temples are everywhere and represent all the gods and especially in the south also christian and orthodox shrines, mosques and Sikkh gurudwaras abound cheek by jowl. Some can be as simple as a bodhi tree (the tree of enlightenment) or a small grotto to a huge and elaborate temple complex. One shrine was to a sacred motorcycle another was a glistening white marble extravaganza of a Pieta.

Motorcycle Shrine

Worship is a daily and integral part of life and everywhere are flowers for sale and outside many shops are strings of 7 chillis and a lime and every Saturday these are thrown on the ground to be trampled and replace with fresh. Holy men, both genuine and bogus, are very keen to receive alms either for their temples of for their dinners.....the Sikkh temples provide free meals to all comers everyday, this is a huge undertaking in the big cities especially but does not seem to be abused.

Oh holy wheels

Visited a jewellery shop. Wow. The amount of gold and the complex and ornate settings for neck ornament especially was stunning. As, naturally, were the prices. At the current price of gold, even a simple small item is expensive , then add in the gems, design and labour involved and it becomes astounding to consider that such jewellery is a commonplace part of a woman's share of the family wealth. Dowry is no longer a legally permitted requirement for marriage but this is still the time in her life that a woman inherits from her parents. So wedding gifts come in the form of jewellery, cars, homes etc. Even the obviously poorer women all wear their wealth. In the shop there were three floors, gold, diamonds and silver etc on the top floor - we headed there to get some little rings. All but the gold floor were deserted. There there was a family obviously buying for an upcoming wedding. First they chose 4 bangles, a process that involved much discussion of design and pattern but no mention of price. Next on to the neck ornaments at which point we left but can only imagine.......Making a purchase involved, after the choosing of course, another five or six steps and so many staff before we could escape from the shop with 8 little rings each in its own box and all for a tiny outlay, such a fuss. It certainly makes you think twice about what is valued in different cultures.